The Boy Who Has No Redemption (Soulless 8)

“What else is new with you?”

“I think I figured out what went wrong with my rocket.”

She stopped playing the game altogether and just stared at me, unable to control her surprise. “And what did you discover?”

“That the wiring to the capsule failed because of an electrical short. The initial explosion occurred because that short caused an electrode to explode, which caused the fire in the booster…so everything was caused by a faulty wire.”

“What does that mean?”

I abandoned the game and stared at her. “The electrical team failed to employ their safeguard measures and test the circuits. Those shortages never should have happened.”

“It sounds like it wasn’t your fault, then.”

I shrugged. “It’s my rocket. Everything is my fault.”

“Derek, you can’t be in a million places at once. You’re one person.”

“I know, but…” I shook my head. “I should have figured it out.”

“You tested everything a million times, Derek. There’s nothing more you could have done. And remember, this was a test. The purpose of a test is to figure out the kinks. That was a kink—and you’ll fix it.”

“Yeah…I’ll fix it.”

She placed her hand on my arm and gave me an affectionate squeeze. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Why?” I whispered. “The test failed.”

“I’m proud that you aren’t afraid to keep trying until you get it right.”

26

Emerson

I sat at the table with both of them while they worked on her schoolwork. I had other stuff to work on, like editing his pages and filing the work submitted by the interns, so we all had something to do while we devoured the pizza sitting in the middle of the table.

I saw Derek work with his grad students, but he was totally different with them than he was with Lizzie. Lizzie wasn’t a graduate student pushed to perfection. He treated her with patience and affection, answering the same question in several different ways until she grasped it. Instead of using a whiteboard, he did all of her instruction in her notebook so she could flip back and look at what he had written to study.

But honestly, I didn’t even understand what he was trying to teach her.

I was so proud that Lizzie did.

He never made her feel embarrassed for not understanding something, and I saw the way he got excited when she caught on to things, and as a consequence, her confidence increased.

Derek was the best thing to ever happen to her.

With him as a parent, a role model, and a teacher, she would reach new heights and surpass me in every way. All a parent wanted was for their children to do better than themselves, and with Derek, that would happen without question.

I was so touched by their interaction that it was hard for me to focus on my own work.

“You’re going to ace this final,” Derek said. “And you’ll probably get a B in the class, which is fantastic.”

“I wish I could get an A.” Her grades had been so up and down this past semester that even a perfect score couldn’t repair the overall grade.

“It doesn’t matter what your grade is this semester,” Derek said. “When you start high school, those grades will matter, and we’re going to get you a perfect GPA. You’ll have your choice of any college you want.”

“That would be so cool.” She grabbed another piece of pizza and took a bite. “But that’s a lot of studying.”

“With time management, you’ll be fine.” Derek closed her notebook and set it next to her.

“I mean, that’s a lot of time for you to teach me.” When she took another bite, there was a line of cheese, so she quickly scarfed that down even though she’d already had plenty to eat. “Unless you can’t. I get it…”

“I always have time for you,” he answered immediately. “But let’s not forget your mother is the expert in writing and literature—”

“But you’re a best-selling writer,” she said with a laugh.

“I can always help you in creative writing if you want, but your mother is the one who edits my books…if you didn’t know that.”

“Really?” Lizzie turned to me and looked at me like I was a rock star.

With my head held high, I nodded. “It’s true.”

“Whoa, I didn’t know.” She finished her slice then wiped her fingers with her napkin.

“We’ll make it work,” Derek said. “You’ve got two of the best tutors right here.”

“Yeah?” Lizzie asked. “Because you guys are gonna get married…?” She waggled her eyebrows and started to put her stuff away.

I rolled my eyes.

Derek turned to me. “Yeah. Whenever your mother says yes.”

Lizzie looked at me. “Mom, stop being weird and just say yes.”

“Lizzie.” All I needed to say was her name and she knew to back off.

She turned to Derek. “I’ll get her to say yes.”

Derek chuckled. “Thanks, Liz.”

She packed her things, and then Derek drove us home. He parked at the curb and walked us inside the building, taking us all the way to the front door because that was the kind of guy he was.